By: Dodik Prasetyo) *
Jokowi’s inauguration to become President in the second period is just a matter of days. His political career was arguably brilliant, from the mayor of Surakarta, the Governor of Jakarta to the President of the Republic of Indonesia. Of course the people’s trust in Jokowi’s leadership is not without reason, the following is a series of successes of the Jokowi-JK era during his leadership period.
From the Food sector, it turns out there are those who pout, in fact many who admire President Joko Widodo’s breakthrough will be his breakthrough in realizing food sovereignty.
The breakthrough made by Joko Widodo’s government in realizing food sovereignty was appreciated by the chairman of the Indonesian Parliament Bambang Soesatyo. Bambang expressed his admiration for Jokowi’s breakthrough in utilizing the swampy and tidal swamps which were used as productive agricultural land to increase national agricultural productivity.
This proves that the presence of a state that systematically recognizes, respects and fulfills the right to food for its citizens.
Jokowi already has a real performance that can be directly assessed by the public. One of them is that in four years Indonesia’s food security rating has increased significantly from 72 in 2014 to 65 in 2018 from a total of 113 countries.
The food security ranking is assessed from three components, namely availability, affordability and security. In terms of availability, the government does a good job although it cannot be denied, some of the available food comes from imports.
During his leadership, the poverty rate decreased by 1%, namely 9.82 percent from 10.12 percent in September 2017. The reduction in poverty was inseparable from the program of receiving social assistance which increased to 87.6 percent and was received on time.
Improving basic social services to citizens is the government’s effort to reduce poverty and stunting problems. Both of these programs become one of the five main points of human development in 2019.
The success of the government in reducing poverty is also inseparable from the Jokowi-JK government’s ongoing strategy since being inaugurated as President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.
In his first year of government, President Jokowi had laid the foundation through strengthening social protection strategies and in the fourth year human development was a top priority in the 2019 Government Work Plan.
Various strategies for reducing poverty have been prepared by the government, such as increasing the number of recipients of the Family Hope Program. In 2018, for example, there were 92.4 million recipients of the National Health Insurance (JKN). The beneficiaries of the Family Hope Program (PKH) are as many as 10 million people.
In addition, the welfare of fishermen is getting better along with the increase of fisherman exchange rates during the administration of Joko Widodo. This is proof that President Joko Widodo’s administration program has succeeded in encouraging the improvement of the lives of fishermen in Indonesia.
The former Surakarta Mayor is also known to be serious in developing infrastructure, such as toll roads, airports and dams.
After infrastructure, Human Development became a priority after the fourth year of Joko Widodo’s administration – Jusuf Kalla. A number of breakthroughs made by President Jokowi’s government, through physical development and financial assistance, have succeeded in reducing poverty and inequality in spending and increasing the Human Development Index. At this time, for the first time Indonesia was included in the high human development category.
Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the poverty rate decreased from 11.22% in 2014 to 9.82% in 2018. The level of inequality of population expenditure measured by this ratio also decreased from 0.414 in 2014 to 0.389 in 2018. The HDI increased from 68.90 in 2014 to 70.81 in 2018.
The government also continues to strive to ensure that Indonesian children can take education without being constrained by costs. For this reason, President Jokowi issued a policy on Smart Indonesia Cards.
Not only that, the government also focuses on improving the quality of primary and secondary education that is evenly distributed throughout Indonesia. Among them by placing teachers at the forefront of the outermost and remote areas in Indonesia. The number of frontline teachers from 2016 to 2017 has increased by 7,094 teachers.
The Strategic Policy promoted by Jokowi in fact had a significant impact on the development of Indonesia, this success would certainly become a separate track record for Jokowi to continue his programs in the second period.
) * The author is a contributor to the Indonesian Strategic Studies Institute (LSISI)
